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| St Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square, New Orleans |
A couple of years ago, Matt and I took a trip to New Orleans. We met up with some friends of ours in Houston, and headed to the Big Easy for a long weekend. While I was super excited to return to one of my favorite US cities, and share with Matt a place I knew he'd fall in love with, I was wrought with worry. I was going to leave behind Haimmie and the Girls.
T was yet to live with us, so the only kids we had to be concerned with were our 4 legged ones. I will never board my kiddos if I can help it. (That's a post for another day) Haimmie, our ferret, only required 2 feedings a day like the Girls at this point, as he hadn't been diagnosed with his insulinoma (a nasty pancreatic tumor that ultimately creates severe hypoglycemia).
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| My little Haimmie after a recent bath |
To prevent them and me from having a nervous breakdown, I asked my friend Alexis to petsit. She is one of them most dog-savvy people I know in Texas and I knew she could handle the beasties. She's a tiny slip of a woman, but tough as nails. She came over a few times before we left so she could meet and greet the girls and get the routine down. As we're raw feeders, there's a few extra steps involved, like thawing the following meal's food at each prior serving. I walked her through all of it, obsessively explaining each and every bit of each and every step. She patiently listened and took it all in. I am so thankful for her in my life.
I'm a worrier as some of you may have gleaned from my posts. You're shocked, I know, but it's true. I was nervous about leaving the girls, but so excited for a vacation. I was thankful for the ease of communication that technology affords while we were away, although I imagine Alexis might have felt otherwise. I called her each day to see what had transpired with the girls and prayed they wouldn't give her too many headaches. She obliged me each obsessive, lunatic phone call.
Upon our return, we were met with a detailed note (on the flipside of the 2 page instructional note I had left) from Alexis. Apparently all went great with Nyxie, although on Day 1 she was greeted with the "German Shepherd Bark" which can be alarmingly intimidating as you all know. After that, it was smooth sailing. There was just one glitch.
Arwen didn't poop the entire time we were gone.
Four days! She has this strange Poop Only for Mom Fetish that denies her the simple pleasure of relieving herself around anyone but me. She will only rarely poop for Matt. She's nothing if not "quirky". Talk about anal retentive! This dog is a champ at holding it in. For the sake of my dog's bowels, future trips will need to be kept short.
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| Should I poo? |
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| Maybe here? |
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| Nah - I'll wait for Mom! |
So what does THAT tell you about my priorities?
Better add "Doggie Laxative" to my list of pet parent jobs.
Oh, I just have to smile. Our two puppies that we kept from our litter, Zappa and Fiona were the same way. Zappa never pooped outside of the yard. And Fiona would never do either outside her yard. At three years old, Zappa has relaxed enough that we will do both of his business. And Fiona will most of the time pee, and maybe poop, but only for me. My husband used to take her on the job and could never get her to do anything, he was always so worried because he could be gone for 8-10 hours and nothing. But when I would go with both of them, she had no problem. She still doesn't like to poop outside the yard, but she is much more relaxed on walks and outing to at least pee. I thought your story was so cute. It is probably why we could never go anywhere, the dogs would be backed up for months!! BOL
ReplyDeleteMust have something to do with the Husky in them!! BOL
Too funny. Thanks for the smile!!
We have a similar problem to 24 Paws, only TD will poop outside of his yard. Phantom and Ciara always wait until they are home in their own kingdom. And Mom says Arwen's problem is sort of the reverse of humans who have trouble keeping things moving when they are traveling - only Arwen does it (or doesn't do it) for the humans:)
ReplyDeleteWoos ~ Phantom, Thunder, and Ciara
Gee, and here I was thinking we were the only ones with a problem like this. Must be some built-in doggie trait....poop only for Mom!
ReplyDeleteHmm Momma says I poop at inconvienent times. For example I poop on the top of the mountain on almost every hike. Then Momma makes me carry my poop down the mountain in my backpack.... eewww.
ReplyDeletewoof - Tucker
Fred will never poop out of his home, haylie doesnt care, if she has to go she goes. I always know on a walk if Fred has to go cause when we turn on my street he will pull me all the way home and race out the doggie door.
ReplyDeletePS we lied you on facebook - stop on by our page : hound girl :)
I thought only our Eva had this problem and now I feel much better after reading your post :)
ReplyDeleteEva likes her own powder room which is our backyard. She never likes any other places at all and if it's possible, she holds everything inside her tiny body. She just holds it.
Therefore we always have powder room problems with her whenever we take her our for a trip. It takes us ages to try to persuade her to use the public powder room as we can't bring her private ladies' with us. She will only do it when she can't hold it anymore.
And that be a prawblem why? I only poo in my own back yard and I has been known to hold it fur days when away from home. I see nuttin wrong with that but fur some reasons moms get rilly uptight about it.
ReplyDeleteOur friend held it in for 3 days and preferred not to eat til her mom returned
ReplyDeletePoor babys
Benny & Lily
I have a hard time pooping in somewhere new...you just gotta be comfortable with your poo-time you know?
ReplyDeleteWow! Hearing this, I guess ours isn't so bad. I think that has to be a record!
ReplyDeleteFour of the FiveSibes won't go while out on walks, they wait until they are back home and on their turf to go! But four days...wow! Arwen...gooooo, please! :-)
ReplyDeleteOur iguana was like that. If Steve was on a business trip or we went away on vacation, Milo would not go even in warm bath water. (and I mean a week). Used to scare the heck out of lizard sitter but we just got into the habit of getting home, Steve dashing into the house, running water in the tub, and putting Milo in...2 minutes, tops!
ReplyDeleteI have my own routine -
ReplyDeleteAnd so does my mom -
Hugz&Khysses,
Khyra
So true. One of the many jobs a dog parent has to do. Heehee.
ReplyDeleteToni can be finicky that way as well. If everything's not exactly right (perfect spot, no weird noises, no distracting dogs, not loud traffic), we just have to give up and try again a (short) time later. Luckily, she will take care of business in front of anyone interested in helping her find the perfect spot!
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